Upcycling Leftover Halloween Candy for Thanksgiving

November 16, 2016 by Angie Leave a Comment

If you bought a few too many bags of candy expecting a truck load of trick-or-treaters and only had two show up to your door, you’re probably wondering what to do with the leftover treats. Though it’s tempting to eat every last Hershey’s Kiss and Tootsie Roll, you’re saving your binge for Thanksgiving day, where you’ll help yourself to at least three pieces of pie; hey, it’s the holidays, treat yo’ self!

Instead of throwing the candy away or taking it to the breakroom for a free-for-all, why not get into the holiday spirit and make something of it to share with family and friends come Thanksgiving?

Here are three upcycled Halloween treat ideas that’ll get your Thanksgiving and all of your holiday celebrations off to a good start!

The Thanksgiving Cracker

Brought exclusively to you by the Bumblebreeblog (see full tutorial with photos there!), this sweet cracker craft will start Thanksgiving dinner off with a bang! Filled with small toys and candy (this is where all of that extra Halloween candy comes in) the Thanksgiving cracker is a fun, small gift of appreciation that’ll get everyone sitting around the table talking and laughing.

Materials Needed:

Halloween candy
Recycled paper towel tubes
Ribbon (orange, yellow, red, maroon or brown)
Cracker snaps
Wrapping paper (orange, yellow, red, maroon or brown)
Hot glue gun
Tape
Scissors
Pencil

Directions:

Step 1: Cut the recycled paper towel roll in half, making two smaller tubes. Cut along the top of the tubes.

Step 2: Lay the tube on the wrapping paper. Wrap paper around the tube (it should wrap all the way around) and make a mark. Make sure you have at least 2 inches of wrapping paper protruding from either side of the paper tube. Unroll the wrapping paper once more.

Step 3: Cut along the mark you made on the wrapping paper. Set the tube aside for now.

Step 4: On a flat work surface use your hot glue gun and glue the cracker snap along the edge of the cut wrapping paper.

Step 5: Unfurl the cut wrapping paper with the glued cracker snap and lay the tube in its center. Tape the wrapping paper edge without the cracker snap to the tube. Continue to roll the wrapping paper around the tube nice and tight. Hot glue this strip down.

Step 6: Tie one of the open ends of the tube with ribbon.

Step 7: With the Halloween candy you have left over (this would also make for an awesome Halloween arts and crafts project next year!) fill the tube. Tie the remaining end with ribbon.

And just like that, you have a neat little noisemaker complete with candy! Instruct your guests to pull the cracker apart at both ends and the treat will “rain” candy. To make the cracker even more exciting, you can include little handwritten quotes, jokes and questions for your family to read at the table!

Candy Stuffed Turkey

What is Thanksgiving without turkey? Nope, I’m not talking about the carved bird on the table, I’m talking about crafts! Use your leftover candy and scrap craft supplies to make a darling candy-stuffed turkey! (Full tutorial with more photos at Clean & Sensible)

Materials Needed:

Halloween candy
Pipe cleaners (yellow, orange, red and brown)
Googly eyes
Brown tulle
Super glue
White marker
Scissors

Directions:

Step 1: With your white marker, trace 9-in. circles on the brown tulle. Cut out the circles.

Step 2: Place a handful of candy in the center of each circle. Make sure you have enough space to tie the ends of the circle into a knot, with excess tulle to make fanning feathers.

Step 3: Measure and cut 6 in. of brown pipe cleaner. Roll the top of the pipe cleaner into a spiral, this will be the turkey’s head. Wrap a 1 in. piece of orange pipe cleaner through the coil; this will be the turkey’s beak. Next, wrap a 2 in. piece of red pipe cleaner around the base of the turkey’s beak; this will be his gobbler.

Step 4: Glue on the googly eyes just above the beak. Set aside and let dry.

Step 5: Using the remaining yellow pipe cleaners, cut two 8 in. pieces. Fold the bottom of each pipe cleaner to make three toes. These will be the turkey’s claws.

Step 6: Stick the head and feet through the “body” of the turkey.

Now your guests have their own gobbly good turkey friends!

Chocolate Thankfulness Tokens

Thanksgiving is of course about more than the food. It’s about sitting down with your loved ones and expressing gratitude for your family, friends and experiences. Show your loved ones why you’re thankful for them with chocolate thankfulness tokens.

Materials Needed:

Halloween candy (need mini chocolate bars)
Construction paper, assorted colors
Pens, assorted colors
Small plastic bags
Ribbon, assorted colors
Pencil
Scissors
Clear tape

Directions:

Step 1: Place the mini candy bar in the middle of the construction paper. Make a mark on the paper along all sides of the candy.

Step 2: Write a reason you’re thankful for them on the paper using your pens. You can add stars or other designs.

Step 3: Cut out the little rectangle message.

Step 4: Tape the message to the front of the candy.

Step 5: Repeat steps 1-4 for every square of chocolate.

Step 6: Place the candies in a plastic bag and tie with ribbon in their favorite color.

Now look: you’ve used all of your leftover candy, flexed your creative muscle and shared in the happiness of the holiday with your family. Not a bad way to spend Thanksgiving.

How do you use up leftover candy?

This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you so much for supporting my blog!

Angie

Angie is a coffee-fueled writer, artist-wanna-be, and over-worker who currently resides in a tiny fixer-upper near Salt Lake City with her boyfriend and 70lb rescue pittie. She works full time in Customer Service/Computers, part-time in retail and fashion, goes to school part-time on and off, maintains this and another couple of blogs, as well as volunteers with rescue dogs. In her free time, what little of it there is, she likes to read, play nerd games, craft and create art, and spend time with all of the awesome people in her life.

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Simple Peaches & Cream Recipe to Use Up Overripe Peaches

June 20, 2016 by Angie 10 Comments

Last week I decided to renew my Costco membership. I’d let my membership lapse because I’d gotten too lazy to go out of my way to get gas there (it’s much cheaper), and since there was only one person in my household, buying in bulk just wasn’t important. However, since my little household has gone from just dog + me to dog + me + boyfriend + roommate, the resources have been going at a much speedier rate. There are now three times as many people using toilet paper and eating the groceries. Man, I had nearly forgotten how great some of the stuff you can find at Costco is… Including fruit! I bought a huge container of Cotton Candy Grapes (which were eaten pretty quickly) and couldn’t resist the Peaches that were perfectly ripe and smelled amazing as I walked past them. Of course, we couldn’t eat them fast enough, and it was only a few days before I looked at them and noticed they’d gotten too soft and a bit wrinkly… But I hated the idea of just tossing them out and wasting half a package of peaches. My solution? Peaches & Cream!

The riper the fruit, the sweeter it becomes, and during that ripening process it reaches a point where it just isn’t necessarily a desirable consistency and flavor anymore. In this case my peaches were still edible and nutritious, as they hadn’t soured or molded yet, but they were a bit soggy and the texture wasn’t something I was interested in enjoying. I knew if I left them much longer they’d just end up in the trash, so Peaches & Cream was a great way to use up those peaches without wasting them. Well, most of them… I did end up trimming off some of the more ripe parts of the peaches before making them into Peaches & Cream.

Recipe for Simple Peaches & Cream

I’ve been making Peaches & Cream since I was a small child. My mother used to make this very simple recipe with just about any kind of fruit we had that was ripening faster than we could eat it… We had Strawberries & Cream almost as often as Peaches & Cream, and it was just as tasty. It’s such an easy way to use up what overripe fruit with what you have on hand. You really only need three ingredients and you probably already have them in your kitchen.

Also, you can totally do this with fruit that’s perfectly ripe if you just want Peaches & Cream or with underripe fruit to sweeten it up. Just leave it longer with the underripe fruit or add a bit more sugar.

Ingredients

Peaches
Milk (any will work, but I recommend Whole Milk or Half & Half for better creaminess)
Sugar

Step 1: Slice Your Peaches

You’ll want to slice your peaches. The thickness of your slices or chunks will depend on your taste, I prefer thinner slices as they tend to absorb the cream a bit better, but if your peaches are perfectly ripe or overripe you may want to do thicker chunks. Underripe should be sliced thinner because it’s consistency will be less likely to absorb the fruit.

Step 2: Layer Peaches Evenly in a Bowl

Layer the peaches as evenly in your container as possible. I’ve used bowls for this often, but above I used a rectangle container so I could distribute the peaches more evenly. If you use a bowl that doesn’t allow that, you just need to make sure to stir it a few extra times over the course of the soaking.

Step 3: Milk/Cream

Pour the milk or cream over your peaches enough that they’re mostly submerged. You can make sure they’re fully covered if you’d like, it will just end up with more cream in the end (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing haha!). The less submerged they are the more often you’ll want to stir during soaking so that they all get equal time in your mixture.

Step 4: Sugar

Add sugar to your mixture. It’s up to you how much you add… You can have too much, so be careful with the mixing. Remember that if you taste it now while you’re adding, it will be sweeter later as the sugar dissolves into the milk.

Step 5: Soak

Cover your bowl of peaches, milk, and sugar and put it in the refrigerator overnight or for 24-48 hours. You want to give it enough time for the milk sugar to dissolve into the milk, and for the peaches to soak up some of that sugary creamy goodness. If you need to, stir once or twice during the soaking process to ensure that all the flavor is evenly distributed.

Step 6: Eat!

Now you get to enjoy your delicious treat! It’s great for breakfast or dessert, or a nice little afternoon sweet snack. It should keep for a few days, but I wouldn’t leave it too long-especially if your peaches are already overripe.

Other ways you could use up overripe peaches include peach cobbler, peach butter or peach jam (try: Fresh Peach Jam, Spiced Peach Jam, or Peach Jalapeno Jam), Peach Pecan Crisp, Peach Bread, or even peach cocktails!

Have you tried Peaches & Cream?

How do you use overripe peaches or any other kind of fruit?

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Smoothie Bowls | What, Why, & How + Two Tasty Recipes to Try

April 12, 2016 by Angie 47 Comments

When I first saw people posting about Smoothie Bowls, I had no idea what they were. I thought to myself “What’s the difference between a Smoothie Bowl and just a regular Smoothie? The bowl? Is it just putting a smoothie in a bowl to be trendy?” Then I saw my friend Elisa posting about Smoothie Bowls in conjunction with her recent veganism and I shot her a message to try and understand. It turns out that I wasn’t the only one with questions about this new hip thing called a Smoothie Bowl, and soon after posting a few on Instagram I received various message from friends and followers asking the same thing-what on earth is a Smoothie Bowl?

What are Smoothie Bowls?

Well, the simple answer is that it is indeed a smoothie in a bowl. The better answer is that it’s an extra thick smoothie, that you top with various delicious and health-centered things and then eat it with a spoon.

Some people even make smoothie bowls look like an art form with all their pretty toppings and arrangements.

Why Smoothie Bowls instead of a regular Smoothie?

Well, when you have a Smoothie, they’re typically pretty smooth (duh) so you can drink them on the go or from a straw, but a Smoothie Bowl is something kind of different. I like to think of Smoothie Bowls as a healthy replacement for ice cream. You make them thick so they’re more satisfying as an after-dinner or midday treat, and then you top them with lots of delicious crunchy things that help keep you satisfied longer. So they’re healthy, but they’re also helping to keep your sweet tooth or need for a dessert in check.

How to Make a Smoothie Bowl

This one’s easy. Make an extra thick smoothie in a blender or food processor using fresh or frozen fruit, pour it in a bowl, and then top it with whatever delicious goodness you want. Then enjoy! Here are a couple of recipes I’ve very much enjoyed:

Mango Banana Cherry Chunk Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie Ingredients:

Frozen Mangos
Frozen Cherries
Fresh Banana
Toasted Coconut Almond Milk

Toppings:

Coconut Sugar
Granola (any flavor-I used a Blueberry one)
Flax Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Hemp Seeds
Chia Seeds
Slivered Almonds

Instructions:

Blend your smoothie ingredients together so it’s nice and thick (not too runny, you want to eat it with a spoon) then sprinkle with all of your toppings. I loved the coconut sugar on this one to add a little bit of extra sweetness to it.

Very Berry Banana Crunch Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie Ingredients:

Frozen Blueberries
Frozen Raspberries
Frozen Blackberries
Fresh Banana
Almond Milk

Toppings:

Granola
Hemp Seeds
Chia Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Flax Seeds
Slivered Almonds
Pistachios

Instructions:

Blend your smoothie ingredients together so it’s nice and thick (not too runny, you want to eat it with a spoon) then sprinkle with all of your toppings.

You really can add whatever you want as a topping. Add any nuts or seeds you like, add your favorite healthy cereal (or sugary one, if that’s what you’re feeling!), etc. Have fun with it! You can even make your smoothie bowls super pretty too-which will impress any friends you invite over for one. I mean look at these:

Have you tried a Smoothie Bowl?

This post contains some affiliate links in the Amazon widget. Buying through my links helps me keep this blog going. Thanks so much for your support-I adore you!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Healthier French Toast Bake for One

March 4, 2016 by Angie 91 Comments

Why make a healthier french toast bake? Well, most of you may not know this yet, but I’ve made drastic changes to my diet as of late and for some reason this time they actually stuck-and it has been wonderful. I decided to go vegetarian (though I’m still considering Pescatarian, or maybe just on occasion) and I did so while making myself a rule that I couldn’t just fall back to easy things like pasta and bean burritos. It had to be a diet rich with fresh vegetables and hearty grains. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right.

I had no idea it’d be as easy as it was. Granted, it wasn’t exactly cheap (holy bananas, I accidentally spent $40 on Hemp Seed!), but I haven’t missed meat even once since giving it up. Who knew I’d love hemp seeds, Chia, Flax, and all of the other wonderful grainy options and meals I’ve been preparing and ordering? Along with giving up meat, I cut my dairy significantly. I’m still eating yogurt daily and cheese occasionally, but I’m no longer using milk or cream, and I’ve moved over to Soy, Almond, and Coconut alternatives.

So, I decided that I’d really like to try my hand at making some healthier alternatives to what I normally love to eat. I hadn’t had French Toast in a while, so why not make a lovely healthy alternative to French Toast? Voila! I bring you my Healthier French Toast Bake for One!

When you’re single and living on your own it can be hard to cook for yourself. I always cook too much, or start to feel like it’s not even worth cooking for myself and end up just going out for food instead. Unfortunately after three weeks of trying nearly every vegetarian options i could find in the valley, my bank account threw up it’s hands and slapped me hard across the face with an overdraft fee. Oops! Sooooooooooo, I need to get my rather large tuckus in gear and start cooking for myself again-it really is better for me all around too.

So, why not come up with a recipe that’s easy for just a single person to make? But hey, if you’re not single, it’s so easy to just make a couple of these-one for each member of the family, so the recipe works for as many people as you need. Just make a french toast bake for each person! It’s much less hassle.

Recipe Details

Prep Time: 10 min + overnight refridgeration.
Cook Time: 1 hour (give or take depending on depth of rameken)
Serves: 1

Ingredients

2 slices of healthy bread. I’m using Oroweat® Flax & Sunflower Bread.
1/2 cup milk alternative of your choosing.
1 egg white (or egg alternative equivalent)
1 tsp Nutmeg (or Pumpkin Pie Seasoning)
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 cup ground flax seed. (I use an extra coffee grinder I have to grind it up.)
1 1/2 cup of berries. (I used Blackberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Blueberries.)
Optional: Pumpkin Seeds
Optional: Hemp Seeds
Optional: Coconut Sugar

Tools You’ll Need

1 Ramekin
Fork
Bowls (for mixing)
Optional: Blender/Food Processor

How To Make It

Step 1: Mix Your Batter

In a bowl, mix up your egg white, ground flax seed, spices, and milk alternative. Then set it aside.

If you prefer something a little sweeter, as this dish isn’t very sweet at all, I’d recommend adding some coconut sugar to the mix. I really am liking it as an alternative to sugar, it’s the only one that I don’t hate the flavor of.

Step 2: Layer Bread and Batter

Tear up your first piece of bread and layer it on the bottom of your ramekin. It can also help to let your bread air out a bit prior to this, or in between so it’s a little more dry-but that’s not really necessary.

Pour half your mixture into the ramekin and mix it so the bread is fully covered.

Tear up your second piece of bread and put it on top of the first layer.

Pour the rest of your mixture in and make sure all the bread is covered.

Step 3: Refrigerate Overnight

Cover with clear plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. It can stay refrigerated for a few days, so if you need to make these ahead of time for the week and pop them in while you get ready for work each morning it would totally work!

Step 4: Bake

When you’re ready to bake in the morning, set the oven to 350° and bake for 1 hour. If your ramekin is really deep it may need to go longer, or if you use a really shallow one with less mixture 45 minutes may suffice.

Step 5: Prepare Your Topping

While you’re waiting for it to bake, you might as well go ahead and prepare your topping for your french toast. I wanted an alternative to syrup or anything sugary sweet like jam (but you can use those if you want) in order to make this a healthier dish, so I went ahead and blended up a berry mix. This is where a blender would have really come in handy, but I went ahead and just mashed them up with a fork and it worked just fine for me. 🙂

Step 6: Top With Seeds

I chose to top mine with hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds. These add some extra nutrients to the dish since they’re filled with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and extra protein. Plus, they add a delightful little crunch to the bake, and their unique flavors are something I really love.

Step 7: Top and Eat!

Pour your blended berries over the top of your french toast and enjoy! I went ahead and threw a few whole berries on it too-and next time I think I may bake it with the berries inside the mix for extra flavor.

The coupons for product redemption, information, and gift card have been provided by Oroweat® Bread in order to purchase and promote their 100% Whole Wheat Bread. All opinions in this post are 100% mine, and this original recipe is 100% my own.

When I was contacted by Oroweat® for this post, I was super excited to be able to come up with a fun healthy recipe for you. Honestly, I’ve purchased Oroweat® bread before, because we have quite a large selections of types of bread from this brand and I’ve always found it to be pretty tasty. I hadn’t tried the Healthfull Flax & Sunflower bread one before, but I’m a big fan of both of those seeds and thought it would add another level of nutritious benefit to this healhier french toast bake. Plus, picking it up from the shelf I liked that it felt kind of heavy-when a bread feels to light for me I always worry it’s going to be overly dry or lacking something (I’m usually right) but this one felt nice and weighty.

I was right! It was deliciously soft and moist and was the perfect addition to my recipe, and even to my home. I later made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with this bread and had to stop myself from eating three more on the spot because it was just that dang good! I think this one is my new favorite bread, but I still really want to try the other two Healthfull flavors, Steel Cut Oats & Honey and Nuts & Seeds. They all look really tasty, but so do their many other flavors and types of breads.

Oroweat® Whole Grains 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Oroweat® Whole Grains 100% Whole Wheat sliced bread is premium bread with a whopping 21g of whole grains per slice! Oroweat® Whole Grains 100% Whole Wheat sliced bread is 90 calories and has no high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors or flavoring. The bread I’ve used in this post, Oroweat® Healthfull Flax & Sunflower Bread, is a different variety from the Oroweat® Whole Grains 100% Whole Wheat bread.

*Availability: Oroweat® bread is available in the Western U.S.

Follow Orowheat® on Facebook to see more fabulous recipes and bready goodness!

How do you eat french toast?

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Fresh All Natural and Vegan Chunky Guacamole Recipe

February 17, 2016 by Angie 55 Comments

If you asked me what my favorite food in the world was, I’m pretty sure my answer would have to be this chunky guacamole. The funniest thing about it is that it’s SUPER easy to make-in fact, I’m not sure why I don’t make it more often. When you think about it, guacamole is one of those items that should be my favorite thing ever-I love avocados, tomatoes, onions… and lime most of all. Yet, I have a really hard time with nearly every guacamole you find in the store or at a restaurant. So many of them have weird additives that they put in it to keep it from going brown, but I can taste those additives and I don’t like them. They’re gross, and they make it taste kind of rotten-I don’t know how people at them.

So when my friend Julie brought over her homemade guacamole without any of that gunk in it, and without using one of those weird flavoring packets they sell for guacamole at the store, it’s easy to say I became quickly obsessed with it. She taught us to make it, decreed that you’re not allowed to make it without a shot of tequila (though I do often make it without drinking in it’s honor haha), and we’ve enjoyed it and many variations of it for years.

Chunky Guacamole Recipe

Today I want to share with you the recipe. It’s quick and easy, inexpensive (except that you almost need a loan to buy avocados most of the time), and has nothing in it to take away from the delicious flavors these ingredients naturally possess.

What You’ll Need

3-5 Avocados
1 Yellow Onion (or if you prefer, a sweet Vidalia would be good too)
2 Tomatoes (I prefer on the vine, but Roma’s hold up well for Guacamole too)
Several Limes
Salt

You’ll also want to make sure you have a good knife, cutting board, a fork, and bowl to mix it all in.

Step 1: Chop Up Your Onions and Tomatoes

You’ll want to chop up your onions and tomatoes according to your taste. I keep everything pretty big because I like a nice chunky bite where I can taste the onions and tomatoes because I love their flavors on their own too. However, if you prefer more Guacamole to your bite, you can chop them up even smaller or mince them pretty well. Or, if you love tomatoes and are meh on a big hot mouthful of onion, chop the tomatoes large and the onions smaller. It’s totally up to you.

Step 2: Avocados in the Bowl

As long as the avocados are ripe enough, I find the easiest way to get them in the bowl is to half them and then just squeeze the contents out of the peel. This helps them be already partially mashed, and makes it super easy so you don’t have to dig it out. If yours are a little underripe, you can slice them in half and then cut slices inside the peel, then use a spoon to scoop it all out.

How do you pick a ripe Avocado?

I’m glad you asked! The majority of the time I grope them in the store. Just a light squeeze to make sure they’re not too squishy (overripe) or too firm (underripe-and harder to make guacamole with). However, if you pop out the little knob where the stem was you can tell if it’s ripe by color. The brighter green it is, the less ripe the avocado is. The more brown it is, the more ripe. Ultimately you want that stem to be brown, but not black-but you can also combine checking color and the feel of the avocado to be sure.

Pit in or Pit out?

There is often some debate about whether leaving the avocado pit in the bowl helps the guacamole stay fresher longer or not. I’ve heard that it’s an old wives tale, but the pit doesn’t hurt anything so I tend to leave one in just in case. If I’m not gobbling it all up right away I want to make sure it’ll last an extra day in the fridge.

Step 3: Mix Them Together

Mix all your chopped onions and tomatoes in with the avocado. I find that using a fork is great for this, especially if your avocado is less ripe, because you can mash it down really easily. A Potato masher would probably work pretty well too, but it would also be more cumbersome.

Step 4: Add Fresh Lime

Don’t add lime juice or some weird lime flavoring, you want the full effect of a nice juicy fresh lime. To make your lime more juicy, before cutting it roll it between your hand and a hard surface like the counter. Really smash it down while you roll it so it breaks apart some of the pulp inside. Then simply cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl.

You’ll likely need to add more lime juice than you think at first-and that’s okay! Especially if you’re a lime lover than me. I added two limes to this batch, and I still found myself wondering if I didn’t want another half or even whole lime in there. I really enjoy the tang of the lime, and the acid in the lime helps keep the guacamole fresher longer also.

Step 5: Add Salt to Flavor

Then, just add salt to flavor to finish it off. You can add as much or as little to it as you like, but I recommend adding some and tasting it, then adding a bit more. There’s nothing worse than ruining your guacamole because you added too much salt. If you do add too much salt, and you have an extra avocado on hand, you can mash it up in there to help soak up some of the salty flavor and save your dish.

Step 6: Serve It Up and Enjoy

Seriously, enjoy. This is my favorite thing I’ve ever put in my mouth… I think I might have to go get more supplies and make more this weekend. It’s SO DANG GOOD.

You can also get creative. We’ve enjoyed this recipe with things like apple chunks or pomegranates in it and it’s DELICIOUS with those too.

Plus, if you want to be even healthier, skip the chips and dip cucumber chunks, carrot slices, celery, etc. in it.

How do you eat guacamole?

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Guest Post | Preparing for Thanksgiving + Spinach, Bacon, and Apples Stuffed Turkey Recipe

November 19, 2015 by Angie 21 Comments

Hello readers. Today I have a very fun and different kind of guest post for you. Gaila from Petit Gourmet is going to take over and talk about how she preps for Thanksgiving, and she’s going to share a mouth-watering recipe for Spinach, Bacon, and Apples Stuffed Turkey Breast. YUM. Enjoy, and leave her some love.

Thanksgiving is just a week away and is past time to begin planning. For the table and decorations I chose simple, rustic and green, beige and white as the colors. I prepared in advance some pears and figs in syrup, and found super cute mason jars to presented them in, each guest could take away home their fresh preserved fruits. Use some simple jute place mats, my chargers are golden, to bring some sparkle to the table and then simple white dinnerware. Garnished the table with candles, fresh fruit and herbs.

This year I chose to celebrate and Spanish inspired thanksgiving dinner, and so we began the night by toasting with some Spanish “cidra” when I was small we used to toast “Salud y pesetas” (To health and money) of course it has been years since the Euro substituted the Spanish pesetas. And before heading to the table, we had some Spanish tapas, the classics: Olives, Iberico Ham, aged Manchego and boquerones in vinegar (fresh anchovies).

When planning a dinner, after giving out invitations or confirming how big is your party, then comes the menu, calculating your portions, groceries list, decorations, flowers, candles. Celebrating a thanksgiving dinner for small group is always harder than throwing a big dinner party. Well here is the menu that I chose:

[Tweet “Planning for Thanksgiving can be so stressful… @PetitGourmetSD has a great plan of action!”]

Things You Can Do to Prepare for Thanksgiving in Advance

Two weeks in advance:

Buy place mats or confirm that the linens you are going to use are clean and ironed.
Confirm the invitations (Is better to know for how many people you are cooking for)
Buy drinks (If you know the group you have invited, buy everyone’s favorite drinks:beer, rum, vodka, gin) in this case I bought Spanish cidra to go along with my theme. Be sure to have enough serving glasses for all your drinks, cute napkins, straws, lemon wedges, (spices, fruit peels, fresh herbs for the Gin and cocktails).
Buy good quality turron, if you can’t find it in supermakets near you, try shopping online to get it on time.
Make you grocery shopping list, make sure you have everything on it. This trip to the supermarket should be only for this occasion and time effective.

One week in advance:

Buy your bird, If you have a small group like me buy a 3 to 6 pounds turkey breast if you have a larger party buy a whole bird. Make sure you are buying a good quality heritage bird, they are expensive, I know, but this is your center piece “la pièce de résistance”, Heritage turkeys have been praised by chefs and food critics alike as being richer in flavor than industrial birds,though the lack of a large amount of breast meat means cooking times and methods may differ substantially from non-heritage birds. If you choose to buy an industrial bird, I advice you to brine it or buy pre brine turkeys like Butterball for example. Why brine? well heritage birds have more flavor and texture than a normal bird, when you brine a turkey you can put so much flavor in ti besides making is moist and juicier. So properly thaw you bird in the fridge then brine. There are lots of brine recipes out there, if I brine a bird I tend to stay with the classics Water and salt. You can try sugar, fresh herbs, different pepper corns and spices.

3 days in advance:

Buy groceries

1 day in advance:

Buy flowers
Buy ice
Prepare veggies “mise en place” then keep them in air tight containers
Prepare turkey stuffing and stuff your turkey breast, reserve in the fridge until cook time
Prepare your bar with everything you will need.
Set the table
Put fresh flowers on the guest bathroom
Thanksgiving day:
Prepare your tapas platter, reserve and serve up at dinner’s time
Put your bird in the oven, reserve and warm up at dinner’s time
Prepare your gravy, reserve and warm up at dinner’s time
Cook your rice, reserve and warm up at dinner’s time
Cook your corn bread, reserve and warm up at dinner’s time
Prepare your bread and when guest arrive put it in the oven, not only you will have fresh warm bread at the table, but your home will smell like heaven.
Check your table add finishing touches
Take a nap and then a shower, you are ready for show time!

Spinach, Apples, and Bacon Stuffed Turkey Breast Recipe

[Tweet “My mouth is watering over this Spinach, Apples, & Bacon Stuffed Turkey Breast”]

Ingredients:

For the Stuffing:

3/4 cup apples, peeled and cubed
2/3 Spinach package, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup leeks, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3/4 bacon package, diced
salt and pepper

For the Turkey:

5 pound boneless (double) turkey breast, butterflied, with skin left on
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter, soften
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

For the Sherry Gravy:

1 cup dry sherry
3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Turkey Preparation

Put a large frying pan and fry the leeks, spinach, garlic, season well and add the chopped sage and thyme, cook until soft and take off the heat. Let this mix cool down, then add the sliced bacon and the apples, mix until well combined, then refrigerate until use.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

De-bone turkey breast carefully keeping skin and all meat as intact as possible. Butterfly breast meat to even thickness. Use a rolling pin to pound as needed to create an even rectangle.

Lay some cling or plastic film on the work surface then place the turkey breast skin side down, season well with the help of a spoon spread evenly the stuffing out not going right up to the edge, leave an inch or so, you will avoid stuffing falling out while cooking.

Roll up breast and pin/tie as needed to secure. Mix together the olive oil, butter, garlic, fresh thyme and rub the outside skin. When done, roll turkey breast in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Roast the turkey breast for 1 -1 1/2 hours, then check it is cooked with a turkey or meat thermometer. When cooked, it should read 165°F in the center. If you don’t have a thermometer. Stop the oven after one hour, then take out the turkey and cover it with aluminum foil, let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

Cut wide slices right across; they will need to be quite thick, at least 1/2 inch, try to keep the stuffing intact within the slice, place it on a decorated plate or a sideboard. Serve warm next to the gravy.

Gravy Preparation:

Scrape brown bits off bottom of roasting pan, and pour drippings into a medium saucepan.

Add sherry to saucepan, and cook over high heat until liquid has reduced by about half about 5 minutes.

Combine flour and broth in small bowl, stirring with whisk; add broth mixture to pan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add butter, when it melts, add salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Keep up with Petit Gourmet Here:
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Check Out These Related Posts & Recipes from Her Thanksgiving Plan:
My Spanish Inspired Thanksgiving Dinner
Potato Dinner Rolls
Saffron Rice with Cranberries and Slivered Almonds
+ More to come!

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Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Our Favorite Recipes + A $25 Target Gift Card Giveaway

October 27, 2015 by Angie 38 Comments

Hello friendlies! Are you surprised that it’s the last week of October? I am. I don’t want October to be over… I don’t want Halloween to have come and gone… I don’t want there to be no more costume parties and reasons to dress up. I don’t want there to the winter and snow to come, and I don’t want to have to start stressing about getting holiday gifts done in time. Boo. Oh well…

This month, my fabulous sponsors have teamed up with me to talk about our favorite recipes as part of the October #12×30 Cooking Challenge. To celebrate our favorite recipes, we’ve decided to offer you a $25 gift card to Target. Spend it on food, cooking supplies, or anything your little heart desires.

To start, one of my favorite recipes is this Stuffed Acorn Squash that I like to make as often as possible. It’s delicious!

Kimi from Kimi Who

My all time favorite is a Rachael Ray recipe for Pasta del Magnifico alla Garga or as I prefer to call it… The Boyfriend Maker. Go ahead and laugh, but this simple pasta dish made with cream, white wine, orange & lemon zest, mint and basil has been known to start relationships. In fact, the recipe first aired on an episode called 30 Minute Love Potion! It’s fun to cook, absolutely delicious to eat, and my favorite dish to make.

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Check out this post: Introducing Funko Fridays

Emilie & Laura from Burke Does

I love to cook simple but flavorful meals. I put a heavy emphasis on incorporating different vegetables and meat. So last week I cooked butternut squash, portobellos, and ground beef. Today, I made cheesy, orange brussel sprouts with chicken. – Laura

I care a lot about texture in my foods. And I like to eat the things that Laura makes. -Emilie

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Check out this Post: Banana Ice Cream

Bethany from Stella Kenton Body Shop

I absolutely love to cook! Cooking is so much more than food, it gives us that sense of community; a time for family and friends to come together for a few hours of smiles and laughter with a good, warm, full of love type of meal. Our big dinner days are my favorite, I get to fill my cast-iron to the brim with meat, rice, vegetables, fresh herbs and sauces. That being said, stir-fry is probably my favorite thing to cook for everyone because you can use any type of sauce you want, giving it a new flavor each time.

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Check out this item: Pumpkin Cheesecake Lip Scrub

Stephanie from Captured in the Lens

I love baking the most. Especially cupcakes and cookies. I have such a big sweet tooth so I enjoy making things that satisfy that.

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Check out this post: Baking

Christine from Christine Everyday

Give me all the carbs. I adore pasta of every kind, but my favorite is a spicy chicken pasta chocked full of sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. But I also love a good salad and a nicely grilled steak!

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Check out this post: Progressive Dinner Pineapple Margaritas

Lizzy from Stumbling Upon Lizzy

I love cooking! My favorite items to cook are fun dips and appetizers. They are my favorite because I prepare them most often for parties. I love anytime I get to entertain my friends and family.

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Check out this Post: Simple Tips for Making Your Wedding More Personal

Lindsay from Bourbon, Lipstick, and Stilettos

I like to cook simple dishes. My quick, go-to dinner is fajitas. I am also loving soups this time of year! One of our favorite soups is my White Chicken Chili: so simple and delicious!

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Check out this Post: White Chicken Chili and Chili Bar

Betsy of Musings of a Museum Fanatic

Grandma’s Mac & Cheese Casserole is a casserole I can remember my grandma on my dad’s side making when we would stay at her house. Every time I make this each bite reminds me of spending time with my grandma. Plus you can’t beat how easy and delicious of a recipe it is!!!

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Check out this Post: Grandma’s Mac & Cheese Casserole

What do you like to cook?

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Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

The Weekly Round Up | Amazing 2015 Halloween Recipes

October 18, 2015 by Angie 24 Comments

Each week on Sunday, my fabulous co-host Aubrey and I host a little social gathering here on our blogs called The Weekly Round-Up. The idea of this round-up is to take one day to not be self-centered and showcase some fabulous posts by other bloggers that we’ve collected through the week. This week, I’ve decided to theme it around Halloween since that’s coming up, and combine it with Cooking since Kenzie and I are hosting a Cooking Challenge this month also! I hope you find some great Halloween recipes to try. 🙂

How cute are these Jack-O-Lantern Cake Pops from Nerdy Momma? Adorable, and Vegan too!

These Almond Meringue Ghost Cookies by Creme de la Crumb are killer cute, and would be a hit at any Halloween party.

I know you can eat Caramel Apples all year long, but to me they feel very Halloween-y and these Chocolate Chip Caramel Apples by Tiaras & Tantrums look like a really fun way to do Caramel Apples this year.

These Candy Corn Cookies by Life with Lorelai look so tasty! I think the scariest thing is your waistline after! haha!

These Zombie Brain Cookies are also by Nerdy Momma, but look how cool they are! I couldn’t resist sharing them too.

→ Follow your hosts My So-Called Chaos & High-Heeled Love
→ Write up a post showcasing your favorite blog posts from other bloggers for the week
→ Add the Weekly Round-Up button (code above) and/or a link back to the link-up to your post
→ Link up below!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

All Veggie Spaghetti Recipe + #FallForFlavor Giveaway

September 10, 2015 by Angie 12 Comments

I’m not someone who eats Italian style food very often, but when I do I almost always make my sauce from scratch. There’s just something extra delicious about a sauce that you’ve put together yourself and let simmer for hours. Nothing beats it. However, sometimes it’s just not feasible… Sometimes it’s too hot to be standing over your stove for hours, and sometimes you only have a few hours in the evening between getting home from work and going to bed. This is typically my story-and after an entire day home alone, poor dog Bub hates it when I can’t sit down and love him because I’m standing over the stove. He hates it even more when I wont share my food with him though… Ha!

A few weeks back a good friend brought over a nice big zucchini from his garden and I’ve been wanting to eat it with a nice meal for a while, and last night I was craving marinara sauce. For someone who doesn’t eat much Italian food, I do often get a good craving for a nice Marinara. Trick is, I knew there was no way I was going to make it from scratch-so I was pretty happy to find Mezzetta Napa Valley Homemade Pasta Sauce at my local grocer, and there are SO many flavors. It actually took me a good 10 minutes of going back and forth before I finally decided to try the Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano style sauce. I was really debating trying the Sweet Basil or the Spicy one-but the Wild Mushroom and the Roasted Garlic and Caramelized Onion ones also looked delicious. They all looked good… I’m definitely going to have to try the other flavors soon.

I was also extra happy to turn over the bottle and read the ingredients. It’s kind of rare when you can actually pronounce all of the ingredients, and not only that-but you know full well what they are and you use them on a regular basis. I’m always wary of the weird gum and stuff other store-bought sauces put into their jars, but the Mezzetta Napa Valley sauces seem to be mostly whole food ingredients. For instance, the bottle I picked up lists the three cheeses plus California plum tomatoes, fresh whole cream, sweet basil, sea salt, and freshly chopped onions. There isn’t a weird preservative on the list! Love it.

I’ve also been watching a lot of food network shows like Chopped! lately-so for some reason I’ve been thinking about food in layers and trying to figure out what I can do with it creatively, while also using my cooking as a way to get healthy and lose weight. This inspired me to grab a few more veggies and make an “All Veggie Spaghetti” with Spaghetti squash instead of noodles. I honestly think I like Spaghetti Squash a lot more than actual noodles, and it’s infinitely better for me-so I’ll run with that!

Well, my dish turned out AMAZING, and while I was still skeptical of this store-bought sauce even with it’s amazing ingredients and it’s homemade mantra, it was surprisingly good as well. A little tart straight out of the jar, but once it was heated up in a skillet and paired with all the veggies it was the perfect compliment. So I’ve decided to share my recipe with you today.

All Veggie Spaghetti Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti Squash
1 Zuchhini, sliced
2 Cups Chopped Mushrooms
1/2 an Onion, sliced thin
1 Tbsp Garlic, minced (2-3 cloves)
1/2 a Red Pepper, sliced
1 1/2 Cups Baby Heirloom Tomatoes, chopped in half or thirds
Marinara Sauce of Choice – I chose Mezzetta Napa Valley Parmesan, Asiago, & Romano
Fresh Basil
Butter or Olive Oil
Mozzarella Cheese (optional)
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

All Veggie Spaghetti Instructions

Step 1: Bake your Spaghetti Squash

The first thing you’ll want to do is get your Spaghetti Squash cooking. Preheat the oven to 375°. Start by slicing off the ends of the squash on each side, and then cut it down the middle. Then using a large spoon (or ice cream scoop) scoop out the seeds and pulp in the middle of the squash. It’s a bit like cleaning out a pumpkin when carving for Halloween.

Put both halves on a baking sheet, give them a thin coating of butter or Olive Oil (Olive Oil is healthier, but sometimes that butter taste is what you need. I actually used a butter substitute for mine-so I’m getting the best of both worlds haha!) and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Stick it in the oven for 40 minutes.

Step 2: Sautée your veggies

While your Spaghetti Squash is cooking, start sautéeing your veggies in your choice of fat-butter or olive oil, etc. You have 40 minutes so this gives you time to cook them slower and get them just the right consistency for you. I used three different pans for the different temperatures and cook times, but you could just throw them all in together if you’d like.

I wanted my garlic, onions, mushrooms, and zuchhini nice and sautéed but I wanted to leave my red peppers a little crispy for a good texture. So after the zucchini finished I tossed it in with the garlic and onions while I threw the red peppers and about half of my baby heirloom tomatoes in for a quick fry-without letting them get too soft.

Add salt and pepper to each of the pans as you cook to taste.

Step 3: Heat up your sauce

If you’re working with homemade sauce, it’ll probably already be warm, but since I was using this tasty Mezzetta sauce I moved the tomatoes and peppers out of the pan and then poured about half of the bottle into the big pan I’d been using to sautée in. This helps bring the flavors together since the pan will have remnants of the different flavors I’d been cooking in it, and it was a quick way to heat up the sauce.

Step 4: Prepare your Spaghetti Squash

By now your Spaghetti Squash should be about done. Take it out of the oven, and then using fork, the insides out of the squash and onto your plate, it will naturally come apart into a shape similar to that of spaghetti. It may seem like it’s still kind of hard, but that’s okay because you want your “noodles” to retain some of their delicious fresh squash crunch. You should be able to eat everything up to the skin, it’s all the tasty “meat” of the squash.

Step 5: Plate it!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the Food Network, it’s that presentation is everything. I’m not sure it’s everything, because taste is important, but a well plated dish definitely seems to increase the flavor of the food.

For this All-Veggie Spaghetti I topped the Spaghetti Squash with a heaping pile of my sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, onions, garlic, red pepper, and baby heirlooms; and then I took the rest of the baby heirlooms and threw them in as well to add another level of fresh flavor. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the dish even.

After piling on the veggies I went ahead and topped it with a nice heaping spoonful (okay, maybe I did two spoonfuls) of my delicious marinara sauce. Then I garnished it with a couple slices of mozzarella cheese, a few sprigs of fresh basil, and a cute little baby heirloom on top. I was very pleased with both how it looked, and how all the flavors melded together to make a very delicious dinner with so many levels of flavor and texture. The crunch from the Spaghetti Squash beats soggy noodles for me any day, and the extra shot of flavor from the fresh tomatoes and basil just make it seem so fresh! This was the perfect dish for a “goodbye Summer-hello Fall!” harvest feast. I ate every last bite and made some for the next day too!

Also, in spite of the lack of meat, my crazy canine sat and licked his lips and stared desperately at me while I ate. He must have picked up on all the good smells. I could tell he was super glad it only took me an hour to put this together so I could spend the rest of the evening snuggling with him on the floor-time saved is a great thing when you have bonding to do.

Want to win the Perfect Pasta Night? Mezzetta is giving away one grand prize and a few runner up prizes!

Grand Prize (1): Perfect Pasta Night. Cooking kit includes: Six (6) Mezzetta® Napa Valley Homemade™ Pasta Sauces + Dried Pasta + Apron + Grocery Tote + Chef’s Hat + Cheese Grater + Recipe Cards + $500 grocery gift card

Runner Up Prizes (10): Six (6) Mezzetta® Napa Valley Homemade™ Pasta Sauces + Recipe Cards

ENTER HERE

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash

April 10, 2014 by Angie 2 Comments

I have been on such a squash kick lately. A while back I shared a recipe for Cheesy Curried Mushroom & Onion Stuffed Delicata Squash, and now I’m sharing this one for Stuffed Acorn Squash. It was sooooo tasty, and can pass as vegetarian. This can even be a good vegan meal if you leave out the cheese.

What You’ll Need

Acorn Squash – 1 half for each person (it’s incredibly filling)
Mushrooms (sliced)
Spinach
Onions (diced/minced)
Garlic (minced)
Butter (or substitute-I used Smart Balance)
Seasonings – your choice
Cheese (I used Vintage Cheddar and Havarti)

Preparing the Stuffed Acorn Squash

Follow these steps to prepare and bake your Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Preheat the Oven to 365 degrees

It should take roughly 45 minutes to an hour at about 365 degrees.

Puncture the Squash

The first thing you’ll want to do is get your Acorn Squash cooking. Place it in an oven-safe pan and puncture it a few times. This allows the steams to release (so it doesn’t explode) while it’s baking.

Recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash - Baking an Acorn Squash

Start Sautéing Your Filling

About half an hour into the baking you’ll want to start your sautéing. In a large skillet melt your butter (or substitute) and add your garlic and onions so they can start cooking and season your pan.

Recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash - Fry Onions & Garlic

Add Mushrooms

When the onions and garlic are starting to look good and soft-golden brown, add your mushrooms in to cook.

Recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash - Fry Mushrooms

Season

Here is where you’ll want to add in your seasonings. I used black pepper, a little rosemary, and some homemade Sriracha salt that my roommate received as a gift from our good friend Brittany.

Recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash - Sriracha Salt

Add Spinach

When the mushrooms are starting to look close to done, throw in your Spinach. Spinach cooks up fast, and will add a lovely big of green to your meal-with lots of nutrients.

Prepare Your Squash to Fill

Your squash should be about done now, so you’ll want to pull it out (careful, it’s hot!) and slice it in half lengthwise. You’ll then want to scoop out the seeds inside. It reminded me of pumpkin insides.